Wheelchair users are increasingly using their wheelchairs in more active ways, for example outdoors on unpaved terrain, and in wheelchair-oriented sports and competitions. Wheelchair design, however, generally seems to be divided between cumbersome institutional models and lightweight collapsible travel models, neither of which is particularly well suited for the more active outdoor and sport user. Heavier-built wheelchairs tend to be less useful for active use. Lightweight, adjustable wheelchairs tend not to be suitable for strenuous or everyday use.
Some of the drawbacks with existing wheelchairs that become more pronounced with sports use include poor balance and wheelbase stability; frames unsuitable for rough use, both as to frame durability and user comfort; insufficient adjustability for different activities; and difficult “transfer” of the user on and off the wheelchair with the user relying on the wheelchair for support.